Section 169 Tahiti. I.1
At2 daylight Tahiti, an island which must for ever remain3 classical to the voyager in the South Sea, was in view. At a distance the appearance4 was not attractive. The5 luxuriant vegetation of the lower6 part could not yet be seen; and as the clouds rolled7 past, only the wildest8 and most precipitous peaks showed themselves9 towards10 the centre of the island. As soon as we anchored in11 Matavai Bay we12 were surrounded by canoes. After dinner we landed and enjoyed the delights13 always14 produced by the first impressions of a fine country. A crowd of men, women, and children was collected on the shore, ready to (S. 19, N. 7) receive us with laughing, merry faces. They15 marshalled us towards the house of (S. 10, N. 2) Mr. Wilson, the16 missionary of the district, who met17 us on the road, and gave18 us a very fine reception. After sitting19 a short time in his house, we separated from our host to20 walk about, and21 returned in the evening.
The22 land capable of cultivation is23 scarcely in any part more than a fringe of low alluvial soil, accumulated round24 the base of the mountains, and25 protected from the waves of the sea by a coral reef, which encircles the entire line of coast. Within the reef there26 is an expanse of smooth water, like that of a lake, where27 the canoes of the natives can ply with safety, and where28 ships anchor. The low land, which29 comes down to the beach of coral sand, is covered30 by the most beautiful productions of31 the intertropical regions. In the midst of bananas32, orange, cocoa-nut, and bread-fruit trees, spots33 are cleared where yams34, potatoes, the sugar-cane, and pine-apples are cultivated35.
Notes
1 Tahiti ist die größte der Gesellschaftsinseln (Society Islands) im stillen Meere oder der Südsee (Pacific Ocean) und besitzt ungefähr 9200 Einwohner, welche seit 1813 durch englische Missionäre zum Christentum bekehrt sind. Die Bibel ist in die Sprache der Eingebornen übersetzt, und auch in den Kirchen und Schulen wird in der Landessprache gepredigt und gelehrt.
2 = At the break of day (Beim Tagesanbruch) we saw Tahiti.
3 = appear, erscheinen. The words ‘to — Sea’ must be placed after the rel. pron., and are followed by ‘for ever’ (stets).
4 = view.
5 Use the active Voice of the verb with ‘man’, which should commence the clause.
6 ‘lower’, here niedriger belegen.
7 rolled past, an uns vorüberzogen.
8 wüst.
9 Supply ‘to us’ after ‘themselves’.
10 = in the middle.
11 in der Bucht von Matavai.
12 = we found ourselves surrounded by (von) canoes (Baumkahn, m.).
13 Freuden.
14 Say ‘which the first sight of a fine country always produces (hervor´rufen) within us’.
15 = These conducted us.
16 des Bezirksmissionärs.
17 He will meet me on the road, er wird mir halbwegs entge´genkommen.
18 to give a person a very fine reception, einen höchst freundlich bewillkommnen.
19 verweilen; construe this clause accord. to S. 55, N. 1.
20 Inf. einen Spaziergang machen.
21 = from which we returned in the evening (abends).
22 Der kulturfähige Teil der Insel.
23 is — soil = consists nearly everywhere only of (aus) a narrow strip of low (niedrig belegen) alluvial land (use the Gen. without the art.).
24 round the base, rings herum am Fuße.
25 Say ‘and is protected’; from, vor.
26 there is = finds itself (sich befinden); an expanse of water, eine ausgedehnte Wasserfläche; ‘smooth’, here fast spiegelglatt.
27 The literal rendering of this passage would not read well, say ‘which (to agree with Wasserfläche) affords (App. § 5) perfect (völlig) safety to the canoes of the natives’.
28 = in which.
29 = which reaches down (hinun´terreichen) to (bis zu) the beach consisting of coral-sand.—Use the attributive const., S. 48, N. 6.
30 ‘covered’, here bewachsen; by, mit.
31 der zwischen den Tropen belegenen Gegenden.
32 See S. 71, N. 2.
33 to clear a spot (of trees, etc.), eine Stelle urbar machen.
34 Yamswurzeln.
35 bauen.